Learn about the experience of our 300+ level courses.
-
The Design Studio
A faculty-led student-run digital and print design agency providing experiential learning opportunities, fostering beyond the classroom engagement, and bringing community visibility to the work of students who develop solutions for real clients in our community. 2023 clients include The Anita Hill Party, USC Theatre + Dance, USC Law Enforcement, and local restaurant Lula Drake.
-
Visual + Verbal Interaction
This class leads junior-level design students on client-driven projects for real users. Clients have included USC Women’s Soccer and The USC First Year Reading Experience (FYRE). For the last 20 years our design and illustration students have been found solutions for translating textual information to a visual poster and corresponding book cover. FYRE is a competition with a winner who works directly with the publisher for their design to be reproducted in mass in multiple formats.
-
Interaction Design
UX/UI and interaction screen-based design course that establishes fundamental design research strategies, ethical and accessible design practices, prototyping skill refinement, environmental design considerations, screen and print hybrid solutions that incorporate augmented reality. Discussions and visits with national industry professionals and local agencies.
-
Advanced Illustration
Explore self-driven content and further develop illustration style in this course that combines hand-drawn and digitally layered images to widen artistic depth within each student’s portfolio. Images for screen and print are explored. Projects developed include animations, posters, and comics. Collaborations with local businesses are incorporated into this course to create experiential learning opportunities. Clients include local businesses Curiosity Coffee Bar, Il Focolare Pizza, and Transmission Arcade.
-
Process + Systems
A praxis-fueled course that develops engaging, process-driven results that require iterative solutions and deliverables, indicative of working-world expectations. Designers are encouraged to highlight their unique strengths within each design solution. This course provides ample opportunity to refine the pitch and present work to professional creatives for feedback. This course is a 2024 McCausland Innovation Fund Grant Awardee for machine learning and artificial intelligence programming.
-
Structures
Research current topics that are affecting culture and investigate existing brands on the market today. Observe and critically examine brand strengths and weaknesses and learn how to position and strategize brands in today’s marketplace.
-
Time + Sequence
Time-based motion design course that challenges designers and illustrators to think critically about the narratives they develop and explore visually engaging ways to convey them. Past clients include USC Women’s Soccer.
-
Portfolio Studio
The capstone celebration culminates in this course that brings together the business and finance of design, portfolio building, field vists, and job hunting with a final hoo-rah: a public Portfolio Day event hosted within the modern architecture of the Richland Library.